Chambers – Netflix Season 1 Review

Episode Guide

Into the Void – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Right to Know – | Review Score – 3/5
Bad Inside – | Review Score – 3.5/5
2 for 1 – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Murder on My Mind – | Review Score – 3.5/5
With Grace and Gratitude – | Review Score – 3.5/5
Trauma Bonding – | Review Score – 3/5
Heroic Dose – | Review Score – 3.5/5
In the Gloaming – | Review Score – 4/5
The Crystal Organ – | Review Score – 3.5/5

Netflix’s latest drama / horror mash-up is a real slow burner. So much so that you may find yourself switching this off way before things start getting interesting. With 10 episodes clocking in at around 45 minutes each, the story takes a long time to really get going and even then, it’s not until the final few episodes that things actually pick up properly and become very exciting. It’s a shame too because Chambers has a lot of potential but falls into that typical Netflix trap of producing a 6 episode story dragged out for far longer than it should.

The story itself follows Sasha. After a near-death experience, this young woman is rushed to hospital and given an emergency heart transplant. Unfortunately, the heart she’s given comes with a whole load of baggage that sees her experience strange visions, sensory illusions and urges to kill or hurt others. This all links back to the previous owner of the heart, a girl named Becky, who died mysteriously at the school Sasha now attends. As the episodes tick by, Sasha learns more about Becky’s life and what led to her death, leading to one final twist at the end that makes the long wait worth persevering with.

Despite an overlong run-time, Chambers does well to pepper in a lot of tension and uneasiness throughout the series. Each episode ends with a shocking moment that keeps you hooked to watch the next whilst the acting from the cast is generally on point. Uma Thurman’s character Nancy is by far the stand-out though and her subtle but powerful performance does enough to help elevate this one.

In a way, Chambers feels very similar in style to Gothika. While admittedly the premise there was a little different, the mystery and detective elements do share a lot of the same plot beats. There’s a good amount of investigative work here too although as I said before, a lot of the film meanders along at such a pedestrian pace that it sometimes makes it difficult not to grow impatient with the story. It’s a shame too because there’s some very nicely worked segments in here and as more pieces of the puzzle are uncovered, the story certainly grows more confident toward the end.

Chambers is not a bad thriller but it does make a pretty lacklustre horror. There’s enough here to keep you watching until the end though and the general scene composition and camera work do well to accentuate this tension. The plot does take a while to get going though and this certainly hurts the overall appeal of Chambers but if you can take to the slow pace, the twist at the end should be enough to reward you for your patience with this one.

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